Box-shaped cases of corrugating board having reinforced and protecting ends are utilized extensively as transportation packaging for fragile and easily damaged items and goods. The patent literature contains numerous examples of box-shaped cases manufactured from an individual flat corrugating board sheet, in which cuts and scoring lines have been applied and along which the flat sheet is foldable for the production of a rectangular container or case having a countersunk and reinforced short side or end which has a retracted end panel.
As examples, DE 80 20 235 U1 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,593,895 have containers of cardboard or corrugating board having reinforced end zones formed by folding along cuts and scoring lines which have been applied in a flat sheet of cardboard. These two represent a procedure which relies on tabs engaging slots to prevent the end panels from falling and to keep the sides of the container in the erected position.
Another procedure is represented by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,090,607 and 6,032,853, which both rely on an adhesive or an adhesive tape to keep the sides and end panels of the container in the erected position.
Yet a procedure is represented by U.S. Pat. No. 3,160,344, which at least partly relies on an item placed inside the container to prevent the end panels from falling, or by U.S. Pat. No. 4,396,118, which relies on outer end panels which are suspended from a lid to keep retracted, inner end panels in the erected position inside the outer end panels.
WO 2006/101443 provides a box-shaped case manufactured from an individual sheet of corrugating board, wherein the end panels are arranged in a retracted way inside a reinforced end zone. This container requires neither an adhesive nor another measure to prevent the end panels from falling once the container has been closed, and relies only on a co-operation between the panels that form the closed container.
It should, however, be noted that the packaging container disclosed in WO 2006/101443 requires a “third hand” or a special tool which temporary assists in the raising of the container from the flat cardboard sheet, and the container formed in this way cannot retain its erected position and shape if it is not closed at once by means of a lid.